The snowflakes are like palms that are hard to cover their eyes, and the wind is like a knife that keeps worrying

This snow has been falling for a long time, and there is no meaning to stop, the snow is falling, just like the endless heroic legends on the rivers and lakes, the endless love of children and daughters, the endless wine of heroes and heroes, and the endless tears of lovers.

The end of the year is approaching, and for the poor people of this town at the foot of the hill, it is the only few days of the year to rest, and the only time to celebrate. The town is full of joy inside and outside, putting up lanterns, killing pigs and sheep, calling friends, and gathering together.

But not today, the weather is too cold, the wind and snow are too big, the only road in the town that runs from east to west is a foot deep, the doors and windows are closed door to door, the weather outside the window is gloomy, the cold wind is howling, the snow is fluttering, the boiling water on the stove in the house is hissing, the old man is lying on the bed smoking a dry cigarette, looking at the children in the house in new clothes laughing and playing, his expression is indescribably peaceful.

For him, life is coming to an end, and every remaining day is precious and worth cherishing, there is nothing worth worrying about, what you can't get has been relieved, and what you should let go has long been put down. The old man slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, the smoke was filled, and the old man's cloudy eyes were bright, whether he remembered his former young self, and he was proud of the spring breeze, and he saw all the Chang'an flowers in one day.

In comparison, the experience of Lao Zhangtou of Laifu Inn on this day is really colorful and thrilling. Even if all the experiences and stories he heard for most of his life were added up, there was no way to describe his feelings, because he had been numb to a series of stimuli.

Lao Zhang's natural surname is Zhang, his hair is gray, his body is rickety, he has been wearing a shabby green cloth cotton jacket for many years, the cotton jacket has been washed and white, and the sewing and mending pockets can be seen to have accompanied him for many years. It is said that his wife made it for him shortly after he got married. After his wife left ten years ago, he hired a miscellaneous man, a mute who didn't know where he came from, and there was nothing wrong with a dumb man except that he couldn't speak, and when there were guests, he fried a few side dishes, and when there were no guests, he began to wipe the table, he wiped it very hard and wiped it very carefully, no matter where the innkeeper had such a guy, he must be very satisfied.

The inn was very small, except for the inner hall, which had six tables and a few benches, and only a small courtyard behind the inner hall, where a lonely old plum stood crookedly beside the well. Swaying in the cold wind, red plums and white snow drifting down, indescribably lonely and bleak. There are two thatched huts on the east side of the courtyard, one is both a firewood room and a kitchen, where the mute usually lives, and on the side is the old Zhangtou's living room, the simple thatched hut door is tightly covered, and the interior is dim. To the west are a few rooms that have been uninhabited for a long time, and the rooms are only a few more green tiles than the thatched houses.

As usual, the mute carefully wiped the table in the dimly lit inner hall, and the old man lay drowsy on the counter. It was past noon, the listless old man got up from the counter and yawned, stretched his waist, picked up the kerosene lamp on the counter, glanced at the mute, approached the door, looked out through the gap in the heavy door curtain, and was distracted for a while before he said slowly: In this kind of weather, there will be no guests, hot wine and drink to warm up, rest early, don't care if the dumb person hears or not, after speaking, he turned around and prepared to go back to the room to rest.

At this time, a sudden gust of wind brought in a few snowflakes and fell on the neck of the old man, the cool old man shrunk his neck, the curtain has been lifted at the moment, and a hand reached in, this is undoubtedly a man's hand, and it is also a very good-looking hand, the palm is not big or small, the fingers are not thick or thin, clean and white, strong and powerful.

Then I only listened to the people behind the curtain: Is there any wine? The voice is clean and gentle, and the words are concise and crisp. Before he could finish speaking, the man walked in, and began to dust off the snowflakes on his body while looking at the inner hall.

The old man looked at the dim light, carefully looked at this strange visitor in the snowstorm, the young man's face was delicate and fair, perhaps caused by the cold wind, his cheeks were slightly red, his long black hair was tied back at will, he was wearing an ordinary gray cotton coat, an ordinary sword hung at his waist, and the hilt of the sword was tied with an ordinary red tassel. It's just a young man who has just entered the rivers and lakes, Lao Zhangtou thought to himself.

The young man said softly while dusting off the snowflakes on his body: The weather is cold, the wind and snow are shaking, passing through this place, he has no intention of bothering, and he will no longer speak after speaking. Lao Zhangtou thought to himself, this crepe tone is like a showman, but he is greeting, where is it, the guest officer is invited, the young man sat down at the table against the wall in the middle of the inner hall, ordered three or two side dishes, a pot of wine, held his cheeks in one hand, and pinched the wine glass in the other.

In this way, after a little half an hour, there was a burst of neighing of people outside the inn, only to see three bearded men wearing sheepskin jackets stepping in, their chests were half open, revealing their iron chests, and the three of them sat down directly at the table by the door, not caring about the young man in a daze, only listening to one of the dark-skinned big men say: Boss, come ten catties of spirits, ten catties of sauce beef, three or two small dishes to drink, after saying that, with a wave of his hand, a piece of silver has fallen into the arms of Lao Zhangtou. Then the three of them started talking to themselves, and the three of them spoke loudly, talking about the love and hatred of the rivers and lakes that "licked the blood with knives", and let out hearty laughter from time to time.

The old man was still in a daze, and the dumb man had gone to the backyard kitchen to prepare wine and food. Soon the wine and food came up, and the three of them began to eat and drink. The old man looked at the three people who were still talking and laughing loudly, raising their glasses and drinking, and the teenager in the corner who seemed to be in a daze, sat back behind the counter, dozed off, and continued to wipe the table with his head down, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

After a while, suddenly there was a cold wind in the inn, cold to the bone, cold to the bone marrow, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the yin wind under the nine shadows, the three big men instantly put down the wine glass in their hands, raised their heads, and at the same time stood on tiptoe, the center of gravity moved up, two lowered their arms, one held to the waist, frowned, the expression was serious, the whole process was done in one go, not the slightest, without thousands of times of practice cooperation, it was undoubtedly impossible to achieve such an amazing tacit understanding.

There were already two more figures in the aisle in front of the counter at this time, one white and one black, one tall and thin, one short and fat, two people wearing burqas, wearing high hats, and scarves on their faces, and the white burqa man in a high hat wrote in bright red letters, you are also here, and the other black burqa man in a high hat said that he was catching you, the two only showed a pair of eyes, a pair of lifeless eyes, a pair of cold eyes, a pair of viper-like eyes, the two glanced at the three big men, and then glanced at the young man, and went straight to a corner table to sit down face to face, among which the man in the black burqa, the black scarf on his face moved, and spit out a word, wine, the voice was dry and harsh, like the hissing of a poisonous snake spitting out a letter, the friction of iron sheets scraping on porcelain.

Lao Zhangtou looked at the two strangely dressed guests who seemed to come out of the air, and then he reacted, while wiping the cold sweat that had just been scared on his face, he shouted at the dumb man, wine and wine, and served wine to the two guest officers, and he actually stammered a little when he spoke, and the dumb man did not react to everything that happened around him, and after the black-robed man said the wine, he had already served a jar of wine, and then turned around and continued to wipe his table.

The old man sat down tremblingly, but his head was still slightly poked out of the counter, revealing a pair of eyes, wanting to see what kind of face the black-robed man was under the scarf, the black-robed man raised his head slightly and glanced at the old man, the old man only felt like he was being targeted by a poisonous snake, goosebumps all over his body, and he was frightened by the indescribable flesh, and hurriedly bowed down, trembling and pretending to play with his abacus.

The black-robed man drank wine one by one, his movements were very light, and his drinking was very slow, but he never stopped. After a while, the three big men saw that the two robed men did not move, and their expressions did not relax in the slightest, and they still maintained the posture just now, just sitting quietly facing each other, and the young man seemed to be unconscious, still holding the wine glass and lowering his hair in a daze.

In this way, almost half an hour passed, the three big men had some anxious colors on their faces, and their sideburns were slightly oozing sweat, the old man had already fallen asleep on the table in a daze, the dumb man was still wiping the table, the young man was still in a daze, the wind and snow were howling outside the inn, but the inn was quiet and terrible, the air seemed to have been solidified, only the rustle of the dumb man wiping the table, this oppressive environment made people crazy, which of the three big men had dark skin, and the big man with red hair and hair had become irritable in this painful and suffocating inn, his breathing slowly became heavy, and his palms were slowly clenched into fists around his waist, as if he was holding some weaponIf it weren't for the ruddy face of the man on the other side who looked like their boss shook his head slightly, maybe he would have erupted a long time ago.

At this moment, a long laugh outside the inn broke the dead silence, haha, such a moving snow scene, if there is no pot of wine to drink, wouldn't it be a pity? Then a burly man opened the curtain and entered, the person who came was dressed in coarse linen clothes, the linen clothes were sewn and mended, dirty and torn, a pair of straw sandals under his feet, a pair of big toes exposed outside the shoes, crazy long hair sprinkled down his shoulders, thick eyebrows flying, oblique into the sideburns, a pair of blazing tiger eyes, bright and abnormal. The three big men before, when they saw this person, their joy was overflowing, and they hurriedly greeted them, and the three of them said happily together: Brother Lu.

The burly man stared at it, laughed again, and said, it turned out to be the three brothers of Chijiabao, regardless of the snowflakes on his body, strode over, and the three big men here had already stood up and hugged their fists, which was considered a salute.

After the four of them sat down, the ruddy-faced man among the three brothers of the Chi family said: Since the last battle of Tianlan Mountain, it has been almost three years since I saw my eldest brother, and my brother has sent the disciples in the fort to inquire about the whereabouts of my brother in the beggar gang Jiangnan area many times, but the eldest brother Shenlong has not seen the head and the tail, and the disciples of your gang do not know the whereabouts of the eldest brother, which is really helpless.

Unexpectedly, a few days ago, I received a hero post from Wudang Qingye Dao, inviting the majority of Zhenglin colleagues to discuss important matters with Wudang Mountain, the eldest brother is a hero in the rivers and lakes, and your gang is the largest gang in the world, the brother thought that the eldest brother would definitely not miss this Wudang conference, so he and the second brother and the third brother set off to Wudang in advance, but was delayed by this snowstorm, passing through here, and settled in this inn, I didn't expect to meet the eldest brother in advance, which really made the brother overjoyed, and said what to say today to drink with the eldest brother He is not drunk and does not return.

The burly man laughed again, and said, thanks to the three brothers for their concern, it really made Lu feel ashamed, just because the gang leader disappeared after investigating the three-point dart game tragedy ten years ago, and all the big and small affairs in the gang were entrusted to Lu, and the burly man paused. At this time, if anyone noticed that the young man, who had been in a daze since he sat down, heard this, although his face was calm, the fingers holding the wine glass tightened.

I only heard the burly man continue: Although I am used to being lazy, I must also do my best for the development and stability of the gang, and live up to the trust of the gang leader and all the brothers in the gang. The burly man paused, waved his hand, and said with a smile: Don't talk about this, come, come, come, there is wine today and drunk today, tomorrow will be sorrowful tomorrow, after speaking, he took the lead in picking up the big bowl and drank it all.

Then the burly man wiped his mouth, and said with a smile, I didn't expect that although this town is biased, the wine is very strong, huh? The burly man found that the three brothers of the Chi family were still sitting still, as if he was aware of it, raised his head, and the black-robed man in the corner also slowly turned his head to look over, and the two of them met their eyes, as if a spark burst.